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Computing

Notebook prices dropping close to $1,000 mark

July 15, 1998
Web posted at: 2:57 PM ET

by Ephraim Schwartz
From...
notebook

(IDG) -- Notebook prices will continue to plummet this quarter as IBM, Compaq, Hewlett-Packard and Toshiba cut prices that move closer and closer to the sub-$1,000 mark.

Later this week IBM will announce a price reduction by as much as 23 percent on its ThinkPad Pentium II and Pentium with MMX-based 380 models.

Leading the charge are two versions of the Model 380. One, with a 266-MHz Intel Pentium II processor, a 5.1GB hard drive, and a 12.1-inch thin-film transistor (TFT) screen was priced at $3,899 and is now at a price of $2,999. The other, with a 266-MHz Pentium chip with MMX, was priced at $3,099 and is now $2,499. IBM will also reduce the price of its 166-MHz Pentium with MMX notebook, with 12.1-inch TFT screen, and a 3GB hard drive, to $1,799 from $2,299.

Most of the major companies appear to be reducing prices, especially on older Pentium with MMX notebook models in the expectation that corporate buyers will be making the transition to newer Pentium II mobile units.

"We want to get these [Pentiums with MMX] out of the channel to concentrate on the corporate transition to [Pentium IIs]," said Mark Vena, director of mobile product marketing for North America at Compaq.

Intel will be announcing mobile Pentium IIs with faster clock speeds later this year.

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Among the significant price reductions from Compaq are a 26 percent cut on its Armada 4150, which was $1,489 and is now $1,099. The 4150 comes with a 150-MHz Pentium with MMX, 16MB of RAM, a 1.6GB hard drive, and a 12.1-inch dual-scan display.

According to a Compaq spokesperson, the 4131T, which was selling for $999, is no longer generally available.

Toshiba's two-pound Libretto is also hovering close to the $1,000 mark, the result of a 31 percent price reduction announced earlier this month. The model 70CT, with a port replicator, includes a 120-MHz Pentium MMX chip, a 1.5GB hard drive, and PC Card slots.

Toshiba's high-end Tecra models broke another price barrier, moving to less than $5,000, as the Tecra 780CDM (at 5GB) was reduced from $5,099 to $4,599 to lead an overall average of 9 percent price reductions on those models.

Meanwhile, Hewlett-Packard announced last week that it added Omnibook notebooks to its TopValue Reseller program which offers discounts to users ordering a standard configuration rather than a customized build-to-order system.

HP's notebook prices will drop by as much as 15 percent on "the most frequently ordered standard configurations" of Omnibooks, company officials said. However, the HP OmniBook 800 received the steepest cut, at 37 percent, to a price of $2,299.

InfoWorld Editor at Large Ephraim Schwartz is based in San Mateo, Calif.
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